23 Data Miners and Me.
Anyone who used these DNA analysis services were idiots to begin with.
There was no way in hell that valuable genetic data would ever stay private with no commercial or police access.
Sadly my grandpa did it before dying so some of my information is in there.
23andMe has a “request data deletion” feature. I don’t know if it actually works, but it’s worth a try if you’re worried about it.
I assume that all of that is dishonest.
Yep, I had my data deleted. They told me so, but I don’t for a second believe it.
They don’t actually delete anything. They will throw the physical samples away but retain your entire identified genetic code.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17611256
There’s a better source out there but I can’t find it atm. They hide behind an obscure FDA rule. Something about retaining genetic data for 20 years no matter what or something.
I’m so glad I never sent them my DNA. It was tempting from a genealogy perspective. But my concerns about privacy and them selling on customer information always weighed heavier than that temptation.
But I feel a lot of sympathy for those who used their services. For a while they incessantly advertised them, including via paid endorsements from many ‘trusted’ podcasters and YouTubers. The company’s failure should bring to the fore a drive for new laws in many countries to protect consumers’ DNA from being monetized and exploited. But sadly we all know it won’t.
So the fun thing about genetics is… if you said no, but they conned enough of your family, they got a good part of your genome anyhow.
In my case, Mom was somewhat interested about it when it came out. Dad too. And i told them no to, because, well one, sharing data bad. But also, this buisiness is a one off. There are no repeat customers and it was destined to be sold to the highest bidder.
For once, my parents listened. But good god. This company has already been mined by police to use genetic info from relatives to convict their family members. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/27/magazine/dna-test-crime-identification-genome.html
Murder convictions and serial rapists going to jail, i got no problem with, but that slippery slope exists. And from years of experience, im not inclined to give the authorities my data, even by proxy. The abuse potential is immense and history is not on the average citizens side.
multiple family members of mine bought 23andme kits, so the company has my data as well. even though I wanted nothing to do with them.
There are no repeat customers and it was destined to be sold to the highest bidder.
I didn’t even think of this, but very glad I didn’t submit either.
I’m not a fan of being paranoid.
Yes because people who are paranoid schizophrenia were all such a fan of it. Wonderful prognosis of how mental health works.
I had my sample destroyed the day they went public.
*you hope
Lol, sure you did.
They seem trustworthy. /s
Remember That DNA You Gave 23andMe?
No. When did I do that?
When your cousin did it a few years ago. Now they have a lot of your DNA too.
Ah, by not sending them money every month you agreed to them coming into your room while you slept to harvest your unique juices.
Should have known to opt out of that thing you never signed.
I’m still glad I did.
Lead me to finding my biological family.
And as far as side effects go, there’s not much they can use it for that will bother me.
I wish you the best of luck when your health insurance rejects your life saving operation because, “you were informed of your genetic predisposition to x and did not take preventative actions for n years.”
while you’re dealing with your own mortality, you’ll also be coming to terms with your own ignorance that put you in that situation.
but don’t worry, you’re young, you’ll live forever.
I have universal healthcare.
Have fun when your private health insurance fucks you over for whatever bullshit reason it picks and you can’t afford to fight it even though you’re in the right?
“they didn’t come for me.”
what a damn fool.
This whole “meh I don’t care about privacy, take my data” attitude among younger generations is going to cause us SO MANY PROBLEMS in 20 years.
They already got our data.
Yep. Look at all the profiling data companies like Google, Meta and Reddit collect.
And what are these problems you foresee?
Considering the rise of fascism everywhere? What could possibility go wrong?
Mass data harvesting, inevitable data breach - oh look, you have genetic markers for some degenerative condition, and for some reason you’re now suddenly getting booted off your insurance and refused coverage.
Being denied medical insurance because you have a genetic predisposition for certain diseases.
New government comes into power, decides homosexuality is illegal. Digs into your post history, finds your comments supporting homosexuality, you go to prison.
Someone takes a bunch of photos of you, uses AI to create a lifelike video of you doing a lewd sex act, and then blackmails you with it.
Identity theft cases go through the roof.
Employers refuse to hire you because of an argument you had on facebook when you were 14.
You’re really REALLY craving ice cream. Predictive algorithms knew you would be craving ice cream right now. So your personal price for ice cream at every store is now 3x what it usually is.
You call in sick to work, but actually go to visit a sick friend. Your car reports your location to your boss, and you’re fired.
It really shows how far we have fallen when these examples (to which, top notch, grade A examples, mind you) sound terrifyingly real. Some even sound like they have happened in some capacity. You could write horror stories for the modern age.
Honestly most of these sound like America problems, insurance, employers digging through history, cars reporting to workplaces, etc.
Companies already have profile information on me, or 95% accurate generalisations for my demographic. And no way would such price gouging tactics be allowed in my country.
The most plausible ones, such as a government targeting me - well the only other option is to live my life underground and that defeats the whole purpose of pride. So yeah I’ll gladly risk being myself publicly in spite of the risks.
Look at the end of the day, things could change 180 a new oppressive and more American like government could come in and make my life shitty. But the thing is, if they’ve already managed to come in, they’re going to make my life shitty regardless of what information I have out there.
You sweet naive fool. “That would never happen, it’s ILLEGAL!” Grow up. They are already doing it.
That’s nice American, why don’t you go focus on a real issue like gun control instead of fearing an imaginary future where fascists are in power but can only find public information about a person to persecute them with?
Maybe you could focus on the lack of universal healthcare, rather than private insurance raising your prices.
Stop focusing on imaginary future scenarios and focus on the actual real problems you have already. Because they don’t exist elsewhere and it’s got nothing to do with DNA information.
Hahaha did I strike a nerve? Probably guilt. You know you should care more about privacy but you can’t give up the convenience.
Regarding the second argument: unless something really bad happens in the country, wouldnt it be impossible to put someone in prison for breaking a law that didnt exist you did the action?
I know this is prohibited in the romanian constitution and i know that the entire document was inspired by the american constitution so i just assumed that it was a common thing to have in a constitution. I have seen a lot of people(including americans) use being charged for a crime that didnt exist when you committed it as a pro-privacy argument and im not sure if other countries just forgot to put one of the most important thing in their constitution
Illegal? Probably. Impossible? No.
Impossible unless something really bad happens in the country
If something really bad happens in the country and they would lookin your history of comments if you supported something, couldnt they also ban privacy and charge you for that?
Please correct me if im wrong
Something really bad can happen. It has happened before in many countries, and will continue to happen as long as we have humans.
Yes, privacy can be made more difficult. Certain privacy friendly services (example VPN, there are others) could be banned.
But, the less information they have on you, the better off you’ll be.
unless something really bad happens in the country, wouldnt it be impossible to put someone in prison for breaking a law that didnt exist you did the action?
yeesh, this’ll age like rotten eggs.
Oh, honey
“Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime”
That relies on the assumption that a dictatorship would follow the rules.
Worst that could happen is that you get denied insurance coverage or pay a bigger premium than you should. Or get caught easier if you decide to succumb to a life of crime. Or in the future they might be able to figure out if you have predisposition towards addictive behaviors and market gambling and stuff to you.
So hopefully nothing too bad, but personally I’d still feel iffy about a private corporation owning the rights to my DNA.
Ethnic cleansing could happen.
I mean, ethnic cleansing is unlikely to even care about genetics.
We can do genomic cleansing if you wish
Worst that could happen is that you get denied insurance coverage
If you end up getting a serious illness or cancer or something like that, you might reevaluate how big of a problem this is.
I was being facetious. Obviously it’s a huge problem.
I don’t have health insurance and the world already advertises addictive shit to me and everyone else.
I’m not too worried about it.
Ugh paywall.
I was never worried about this because I’m from Eastern Kentucky.
They have my dna, but good luck finding me.
stops mid stroke wait, those things are for saliva?
Yes. The other liquid only has half the DNA and they don’t do half price.
That’s why I’ve been sending two at a time.
Nope, I never did
But you can’t control what your family does.
Honestly terrifying. Once that info is out there, who knows what could happen.
Will insurance use it to see if you’re pre-disposed to something and charge more?
Will a fascist group use it to find groups they think are undesirable? What if there’s a genetic component or predisposition to being gay/trans?
Will future terrorists or governments use it to engineer a virus that only affects a group of people? Assasinate an enemy and their entire family?
There’s a podcast sequel to Orphan Black that uses the plot from your last point, and it is excellent
There’s a podcast sequel to Orphan Black
Squeals like a little girl and heads to AntennaPod app
Edit: EEE it actually stars Tatiana Maslany herself! 🥰
It’s honestly so freaking good. I really wish they’d make another season, but I don’t see it happening now that they’ve done Echos (which I haven’t seen yet, no spoilers!). My only complaint is the first season doesn’t have Felix’s voice actor, but season 2 does, and it’s fantastic.
You should probably just assume that your genetic information is already or will be out there at some point. If you want to protect against how it could be used against you, my suggestion would be to change your last name from a genetically-based one to one chosen by you. It isn’t foolproof since the name change is public record, but it creates a firewall that makes it harder.
That’s why I changed my legal name to “Marijuana Plant Johnson”
Too unique for a name database. Just change your last name to Nguyen or Chan. Throw off the scent.
Mohammed Nguyen it is
DNA might contain health information, but unlike a doctor’s office, 23andMe is not bound by the health-privacy law HIPAA. And the company’s privacy policies make clear that in the event of a merger or an acquisition, customer information is a salable asset. 23andMe promises to ask its customers’ permission before using their data for research or targeted advertising, but that doesn’t mean the next boss will do the same. It says so right there in the fine print: The company reserves the right to update its policies at any time. A spokesperson acknowledged to me this week that the company can’t fully guarantee the sanctity of customer data, but said in a statement that “any scenario which impacts our customer’s data would need to be carefully considered. We take the privacy and trust of our customers very seriously, and would strive to maintain commitments outlined in our Privacy Statement.”
There needs to be government protection of your DNA, but the government probably doesn’t want that
We take it very seriously, just not as seriously as money.
“I mean, we would have to receive a pretty excellent offer to violate our customers’ privacy—which is super important to us. (We reserve the right to also accept offers ranging from “pretty decent” to “doable,” or in the event of our profits not really getting us hard anymore, we may also accept “any” offer.) Your privacy is very important to us.”
No, thanks. I gave at the
officehospital.i was really close to using this service.
then they got hacked. so i waited.
now this makes me glad that i waited.
